I have been using MakeMkv to rip my blu ray collection. I looked at the ripped MKV file in VLC and it is showing a bitrate of 5-6 mbps with a file size 3-4 gb. Now for some, this is perfect because it is a good looking rip, its one file AND its small enough to store a lot of blurays on a hard drive.

I am assuming and hoping that the bitrate of the original blu ray disc is much higher. I have had a few friends share some movies with me and the bitrate was 30mbps + Questions....

1. Are there optimal settings in MakeMkv that will do the highest quality rip possible with size not being an issue, closest to the bitrate/quality of the source.

2. Are there alternatives (paid) programs that will maybe have more advanced settings to get files with higher bitrates.

3. I need clarification, what are the aspects of a good quality rip with awesome picture sound etc. Maybe I am putting to much thought into the bitrate.

We'll now it's a paid program so Im using a ill old version my friend gave me the .exe. It's definetely the right program.

Do you think how old the disc are might have something to do with size and bitrate of the output file??

Why are all my rips so small. I was wondering if there is a way to optimize quality settings in MakeMkv or do I need a more advanced program. I'm not meaning to sound like I'm having tunnel vision regarding size and bitrate. Nevertheless, i have seen Mkv files 30-50 gb with very high bitrates

I really wonder why using makemkv while mkvmerge can do same thing and it is free again. when i used it to make mkv files. does not change any thing in the movie and give the same result in the bluray movie..
you can not make any change while using makemkv

1. Because MakeMKV can decrypt. Mkvmerge cannot.
2. At least for some users MakeMKV seems to work more consistent with DVD/Blu-ray than mkvmerge. It is more tested in that regard as that's its main purpose. For example it has special handling for overlapping audio frames found on discs using seamless branching.

I've barely used MakeMKV myself, but I've ripped a couple of DVDs with it and from memory it automatically detects the individual titles and each one is output as an MKV. If your disc has six episodes of a TV show it'll rip to six MKVs. MKVMerge can append or split vob files while muxing but I'm pretty sure it can't open IFO files to split the output into individual PCGs automatically, it can't read encypted discs, and unless my memory is bad when you open a vob file MKVMerge will only display the video and audio streams. If you need to extract the DVD subtitles or chapters you have to do that separately yourself.

I've used MakeMkv for my entire DVD and Blu ray collection and the main movie always has subtitles and chapters. I then review the MKV file and run it through MKVMergeGui and remove any tracks I really don't want. In a few cases where the original disc didn't have subtitles or chapters, example "The Graffiti Artist" I have added them. I paid for the program so I have a permanent
license so i don't have to muck around every month or whatever to update it. Works nicely.